A New Chapter
by ameliagianna
Summary: My take on what happens after 4x23 'Always'
1. Prologue

After Kate Beckett took his hand and led him from the door, Richard Castle didn't remember much except his body and her body, the two of them, together; that was all that mattered.

But the second she gasps, and it isn't because of anything good, he snaps abruptly back into reality.

Rick looks down at the woman in his arms, and her ivory skin is suddenly littered with blues and purples and reds, bruises and scrapes he hadn't seen before.

Maybe because he had been lost in her eyes, letting his hands memorize the feel, not the look, of her; all of her.

Kate obviously hasn't noticed him noticing, not yet, because she continues to place intimate kisses on his shoulder. She had felt the uncomfortable pressure on her hip, but it had since passed, her mind elsewhere.

Pulling back and finding his eyes, she brings a hand to his face to get his attention. "What's wrong?" she asks, eyes filling with worry.

"What's wrong?" he repeats harshly, "Oh my God, Kate, look at you. What happened today?" His eyes leave hers and focus on a particularly nasty-looking bruise on her neck. How had he not seen them before?

"The man who shot me, I found him. I went after him. I fought him and lost." She swallows, hard, and Rick can see the lump forming in her throat. "He threw me off a building. I held on just long enough for Ryan to pull me back up."

Rick is no longer on top of her, but on his side next to her. He holds her loosely, as she traces the darkest bruises on her arm, marks he now knows were caused by their friend's saving hand.

"Look, Castle, I'm fine. Really." And she is. That was the first time she had felt any of the injuries since the fight. She hadn't felt anything but him since the first kiss at the door. "I don't even think they were showing until a few minutes ago." She leans back into him, lips on his.

Into her mouth, he asks, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm better than okay, but I won't be if you don't shut up."

And that's exactly what he did.


	2. Morning After

Her eyelids flutter as her mind slips from dream to reality, though last night the two had collided. When her eyes do open, Kate Beckett is greeted by the sleeping face of Richard Castle.

At first she waits, waits for the soreness of her bruises and the uncomfortable heat of the scratches to surface on her skin; they don't. At least, not noticeably.

Their foreheads touch lightly and his arm is slung loosely around her waist, the silk bedsheets tangled around only the lower half of their naked bodies. She brings her hand from where it rests on his firm chest, the faint, slow beating of his heart at her fingertips, and trails it up to his ear. She plays with the hair that grows just above it, pulling lightly to test the depth of his slumber.

After a particularly sharp tug, his mouth twitches and he lets out a small groan. "Go back to sleep," he whispers, his eyes remaining shut, much to Kate's dismay. Though he can't see it, she adopts a sly smile and lifts her head up an inch or two from the pillow. Her soft lips form an 'o' as she blows a sharp breath at Rick's face. The hair around his forehead lifts and falls back, his eyes squeezing shut tightly in reflex.

Kate giggles, and then brings the hand from his ear to her mouth to stop them. Now his eyes open slowly, immediately locking in on her and giving her a stern look. She laughs again, and this time his face relaxes and he laughs lightly with her.

When their laughter falls and eventually dies out, the two lay completely still and watch each other closely. Kate finally lifts her hand to Rick's cheek and trails her fingers lightly against the smooth skin.

The plumpness of her lower lip is caught by her teeth and she moves her hand to brush a few strands of short, dark hair from his face.

"God, you're beautiful," he sighs. The arm on her hip tenses and pulls her towards him, her shifting with him to curl against his chest.

She slides her leg to run her toe up his leg, eventually just resting hers over his at the knee. "You're not so bad yourself," she says playfully. Her hand grazes down his neck and comes to rest back over his heart again, and she taps her fingers in sync with the slow pulse.

"How are you feeling?" he asks slowly.

"Like it didn't even happen. If I couldn't see them, I would swear the bruises aren't even there," she assures him. She adds a kiss to his chest, just to be sure. Kate tilts her head up towards him and moves her face in closer to his. "Do you think we broke the front door?" she asks quietly, and the corners of her mouth pull up into the most beautiful smile Rick has ever seen.

He closes the small but daunting distance between their eager lips. It starts slow, feather-light kisses, but Kate's lips fight and after a minute they are in a fierce battle for dominance. Rick feels her tongue tracing over his bottom lip, and he gives in to her control, accepting that the competition would never end without her victory.

Now taking the lead, Kate's leg slides up higher until it is across Rick's waist and they are almost as close as humanly possible. The hand on his chest slides up and holds tight to his shoulder, using it as a leverage point to pull herself on top of him, their mouths still latched together.

Both his hands are on either side of her waist now, and her other hand moves down in between them to guide them together.

When they join, they both let out soft moans into the other's mouth. Kate rocks forward, her hand flying up to tangle her fingers in his hair.

Their bodies are always moving together, the ebb and flow of their very own waves crashing over them. The soft murmurs and gasps of their names are almost unheard, lost between their lips and the noise of their ragged breathing.

Kate's nails dig into Rick's scalp and back as their mutual ends near, and with a final thrust they both gasp and Kate collapses onto him.

They lay against each other for several moments, waiting as their heartbeats slow and their breathing evens out.

Kate lifts her head from where it fell to Rick's shoulder and presses her lips against his. His arms wrap around her waist as hers rest on either side of him, her elbows against his upper arms and her hands on his cheeks.

As her lips lift away and her eyes meet his again, he responds to her forgotten question, "I think the door will survive."


	3. The Thing About Daughters

Kate's body hums next to his, and Rick doesn't think it's excitement. She offered to stay and talk to Alexis with him, but now she was rethinking it.

Things between her and Alexis were tense, and that was putting it lightly.

The two sit on the couch, about an inch apart. Kate doesn't like the distance, even if it is small. But she's convinced herself it will be better if she isn't all over Rick when his daughter walks in the room.

Alexis had called, maybe ten minutes ago, informing him that she was on her way. She was due back any minute now.

Rick reaches over and takes Kate's hand, leaving it where it rests in her lap but interweaving their fingers together.

She gives him a small, nervous smile, and squeezed his hand.

"It's going to be fine, Kate. Relax."

His voice soothes her, and she lets her worst-case-scenario thoughts drop away. Her back, which had been straight as a board since they sat down, slouches slightly and she leans back into the leather of the couch.

After a moment, she shifts towards him and lets her head fall to his shoulder, her temple against the firm curve of his upper arm.

The arms closest to her moves and wraps around her shoulders, and he turns his head to place a lingering kiss into her hair.

Just then, the lock turns and the door swings open. Alexis, looking tired and slightly disheveled, shuffles in. She kicks the door closed behind her, and her eyes find them.

"Hi, Dad," Alexis says, unsure. Her eyes lock on Kate, who had retreated to her uncomfortable posture on the couch.

Rick smiles, and as if nothing were different from the last time he saw her, asks, "How was the party, sweetheart?"

Alexis looks to her father, then back to the woman. "It was fun. Hello, Detective Beckett."

"Hi Alexis," she mumbles.

Alexis turns and ascends the staircase, leaving them without another word.

"Maybe I should go talk to her," Rick says slowly.

Kate places a hand on his knee. "No, Castle, I'll go."

"You sure?"

"Mmhmm!" she hums her response, though it sounds forced.

She stands and moves stiffly towards the staircase. On the upper floor, she stops in front of the door that she knows belongs to Alexis.

She raises a fist to knock, but hesitates. Inwardly scolding herself for being afraid of a teenage girl, she brings her knuckles to the wood of the door.

"Alexis? It's Kate. Can we talk?"

The door flies open, and Alexis has already changed from her party-wear to something more casual, and she's pulling her light-red hair into a messy bun at the crown of her head. "About what?" she asks, with a little more attitude than usual.

Normally, it would have annoyed Kate, but right now she was too scared to be angry about her tone.

When she doesn't speak right away, Alexis turns back into her room and goes to sit on her bed.

Kate takes a deep breath and steps a few feet inside the room.

Her voice shakes, more than it should. "Look, I know this is weird. I know we haven't been on the best of terms lately. But I also know that—" her voice fails her, and Alexis is looking impatient.

"I know that I want to be with him. Your father," she adds, though she realizes too late that it isn't necessary.

Alexis crosses her arms over her chest. "Why now? Why do you suddenly want to be with him now, after all you've put him through?"

Kate sighs. "After my mom died, all I saw was red. I wanted to punish whoever did this to me and my dad. It's why I became a cop. It's why I was shot. I let it take me over, I let it rule me. I blocked out everyone and everything that got in my way."

"You forgot to mention how you roped my dad in and then left."

"Alexis, after the shooting I was in a really bad place. I didn't want him to see me like that."

"So you just disappeared? You left him here to worry and even though you're back you still treat him like nothing? You still let him follow you around and risk his life for you?" Alexis had stto from the bed, and anger poisoned her words.

"I never wanted that. I never wanted to put him in danger, you need to know that."

"But that didn't stop either of you. You almost died, but you still chase after this guy. What makes you think he won't be back?"

"I'm going to stop working on her case."

"Kate, you're a cop. You can't just drop a case, especially your own."

Kate pauses, and her body betrays her by starting to shake. "I'm not a cop anymore. I resigned."

"You what?"

Kate turns to see Rick standing a few feet behind her, in the doorway.

"I quit," she repeats softly, and a tear rolls down her cheek. She brings a hand up, and stares at its wetness incredulously.

"I-I'm sorry, I have to go," she says quickly, and flees, pushing past Rick and flying down the stairs.

Rick and Alexis stand completely still, staring at each other. They wait, and the door slams shut below.

Alexis drops onto her bed, staring at the spot where Kate had just been. "Dad, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

He goes to her, pulling his daughter into his arms. "It's okay."

Alexis pushes out of his embrace gently. "We should go get her."

He nods, and they both rush out of the loft.

She hadn't made it very far, they find her crumpled against the wall at the end of the hallway, next to the elevator.

Kate cries silently, but the sobs wrack her body. Alexis makes it to her first, and Rick moves to the other side. The younger girl places a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Kate? Kate, I'm sorry."

She didn't look up, her head buried in her knees, arms holding her legs to her.

Alexis drops her hand. "Kate, look at me."

Kate raises her head slightly to look at Alexis, just enough that her red-rimmed eyes are visible beneath the auburn waves of hair.

"Tell me what happened."

In a shaky, quiet voice, Kate tells her the whole story, all the way up until she walked out of Gates' office.

"I don't know what else to do. After my mom's murder, my job is the only thing that makes me who I am." She sniffles, and wipes at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "But if I have to choose, I choose him. I know that now." She turns to look at Rick. "I made a rash decision in the heat of the moment. I'm done with my mom's case," she tells him, and she means it.

She looks back to Alexis. "But I don't know if I'm ready to be done being a cop."

Rick pulls her gently from the floor, and she sinks into his arms. She had stopped crying, but she felt more tears threatening to fall.

"Kate?"

She turns her face from his shoulder to look at Alexis.

"Promise me you're done with putting your mom's case before your life?"

She nods, and a stray tear slides down her cheek.

"Then you really shouldn't have to choose between your job and my dad."

Alexis beamed at them, and Rick pulled her into the hug. It was an awkward fit, and they all laughed.

As they made their way back to the loft, Rick's arm over Alexis' shoulders and his hand holding Kate's, Rick pressed his lips to Alexis' forehead and whispered, "Thank you."


End file.
